Shhh, quiet. You sure you're not being followed?
Hitman is kind of different than Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, Thief or other stealth games. While you can still hide in shadows, you won’t have to use them much. It’s more about disguises. You’ll definitely be recognized if you’ll walk around with the black costume. Eliminate a foe, and take his clothes. Now you’re much safer.
Before starting the game, you should pass the tutorial. It shows you the basics of being a Hitman – how to approach an enemy stealthy, how to get past locked doors, etc. There’s also a shooting range there – good for practicing shooting.
There’s a big variety of weapons in the game – there are pistols, shotguns, rifles, and more. At the start of a mission, you get a silenced pistol (non-silenced on higher difficulty levels), a fiber wire, night vision goggles, a syringe, and a lock-pick. The night vision goggles are completely useless, in my opinion, as you can easily see in the dark without them. The binoculars can be used for scouting areas from a distance. You always got to have a strategy, plan all your moves. Do something wrong, and your cover is blown. Then… prepare to deal against a big group of foes.
Here are a few things that can blow your cover: getting seen with a weapon equipped – use the Q button to hide / equip a weapon ; NPC spotting a dead / unconscious body – ALWAYS hide bodies. Learn the enemies’ routes, and put bodies out of sight ; getting identified at close range – always check the presence bar on your HUD – if an NPC is curious, the presence bar will increase. Try to avoid contact with NPCs as much as possible.
There are many ways to get rid of an enemy. The easiest is, of course, shooting – but it can draw attention quickly if the gun doesn’t have a silencer on. If you want to eliminate an enemy using stealth, use your gadgets, such as the fiber wire or the syringe – equip one, approach the enemy from behind and press the left mouse button. 47 will put the wire around the NPC’s neck, and choke him. You can also equip things, such as knives or meat hooks, and use them as weapons. But the stealthiest way, of course, is using… poison. Put some poison into food / drinks that the target is going to get, and you won’t have to worry about being spotted. It’s much better than putting a bullet into an enemy’s head in front of other NPCs.
There are many disguises in the game – a waiter suit, a SWAT uniform, and more. Use them. For example, if you put on the SWAT uniform, you’ll be able to go to areas where only the SWAT are allowed. But, as I already said, try to avoid contact with enemies as much as possible, or you’ll blow your cover easily.
After you pass a mission, a screen shows up showing how well you did your job – you’ll see the number of enemies you killed, how many times you’ve been identified, and more. There are also two bars showing how much aggression and stealth you used. For example, shooting people is aggressive, so shoot one, and the aggression bar will increase ; choking them with the fiber wire or using the syringe is stealthy. The stealthier you are, the better your rating is. If you don’t use ANY aggression, your rating is Silent Assassin. You get a reward for passing a mission with the best rating – you can get dual silenced pistols, shotguns, and more.
You have a limited number of saves per a mission, so use them only if you really REALLY need to. When playing on the lowest difficulty, you get seven saves. Play on the highest difficulty, and you’ll have to pass the mission without saving at all. It’s harder, but much more pleasurable to pass a mission with the highest difficulty setting, and / or the best mission rating.
The music in this game is great – props to Jesper Kyd. There isn’t a big variety of tracks in the game… however, they give missions a mood. If you really like the soundtrack, there’s a CD available to buy.
The physics are... well… funny. One shot in the head and the NPC will fly five meters away. It’s unrealistic, but again, it looks pretty cool when playing Rambo.
Contracts is a great game. It’s quite lengthy, and the missions are fun, so you won’t be bored. Recommended to all stealth fans.